eLearning Resources and News

iPhones and Universities

"how long can we continue to add technology to teaching and learning before we fundamentally reconsider the entire process, including the spaces and structures of learning?"

The Connected Economy

"This newly-realized importance of the network reminds me of biology, where we thought we could understand an organism by mapping its genes. Now we realize an organism is a complex mixture of manufactured and transformed chemicals and even other organisms, and the genetic blueprint is necessary but not sufficient for understanding. You can no more understand how an organism works by reading its DNA than you can understand how San Francisco works by reading its phonebook. This "whole organism" multi-level integrative approach is called systems biology. Nodes often aren\'t as important as the connections between them. Reductionist science and analysis from the 19th and 20th centuries focused on nodes. I believe 21st century science, economics, political science, and computer science will use more complex systems theory to understand the interactions between chemicals, speculators, nations, and users."

Searchcube

Zaid Learn - Female Bloggers

Laptops in Portugal

I Am a Slow Blog

"And I like that slow blogging is an explicit antidote to the subtle, pervasive technological determinism that lurks beneath the surface of many geeky conversations focusing on speed, ease, shortening of attention and shrinking of content. I don't doubt the reality of these points… I just want to make sure we don't forget that these characteristics driven by our behavior, not the tools we use, which remain inert whether we sleepwalk through their use or not."

Is the Case Study Method of Instruction Due For An Overhaul?

"Most of my learning came from working on cases with my study group. Half a dozen of us met in the evening to suss out the salient points of the next day's three cases. This exploratory give-and-take was highly participatory, more so that the classroom discussion fielded by a member of the faculty the following day."

Feeling Out of Control Sparks Magical Thinking

"reducing participants\' control increase the tendency for magical thinking and the perception of illusory meaning in random or patternless visual scenes."

• Is this participation really democratic?
• Or is this a democracy paradox, where everyone can interact but the decision making places are all outside the net?
• Is the horizontal leveling of internet communications really an instrument of democracy?
• How would it be possible to transform these emotional and communication-oriented extensions in a real space connected with the physical world of true participation to decision-making?

Howard Rheingold of Smartmobs.com

1. Is this participation really democratic? "Democratizing" means making access (to information, tools, policy-making discussions, elections, etc.) widely available. This, however, does not guarantee a healthy democracy. What if more people vote, but their picture of political candidates and their policies are distorted by sophisticated public relations tools and strategies? What if their educations are so poor that voters are unable to think critically about partisan claims? I am wary of projecting hopes onto the tools you mention -- which truly have the potential to inform and involve more people in democratic decision-making -- without paying attention to the less visible parts of the system I mention.


2. Or is this a democracy paradox, where everyone can interact but the decision making places are all outside the net?I am also wary of governance by instant voting. This is known as the "plebiscite" and can be very dangerous: a demagogue or a government can propagandize people into starting a war or adopting a policy without a process of deliberation. That\'s why modern democracies are generally republics -- citizens elect representatives who are expected to deliberate openly and transparently.


3. Is the horizontal leveling of internet communications really an instrument of democracy?It CAN be. But more than the technology is required. A healthy public sphere is essential -- most people need to have sufficient education, freedom to criticize, well-trained critical faculties, and ample sources of accurate information.


4. How would it be possible to transform these emotional and communication-oriented extensions in a real space connected with the physical world of true participation to decision-making? Education!

Michel Bauwens of P2P Foundation

The first level is expression, and it is clear that in this context, the Web 2.0 is a resounding success. And it\'s importance should not be underestimated since historically, we can see that people with power have always tried to limit and control expression, so we should not be cynical about it. I think thatWeb 2.0 generally goes beyond expression, and has also become an efficient tool for mobilization and collective action But expression is not deliberation. Most Web 2.0 platforms are not very well suited for the kind of complex deliberation that would be needed to create a context for decision-making. I think these kinds of tools, which can integrate complexity, adequately filter for quality, and have a value conscious design approach that insure that a diversity of views are taking into account, are still too far between, but quite a few groups are working on it The key in politics is not expression, nor expressing discontent or resistance, but actually transforming things. Collective action can change things, but still implies a separation between the \'people\' and \'representative institutions\'. It implies \'we\' are asking \'them\', to change their ways. So I think the real revolution of peer to peer technologies is that it allows people not just expression, but actually a redesign of social processes. For example, free software communities successfully embed their values in software, and so do the emerging open design communities that are now starting to tackle physical production itself. This is the next great frontier of peer production communities. But equally crucial, and this is why I believe Lessig made the right decision in moving from Creative Commons to Open Politics, is that we actually start redesigning politics itself. If you see sites like worldchanging.org, or p2pfoundation.net for that matter, it is rather easy to come to the conclusion that most solutions for contemporary problems already exist, but they are scattered in marginal groups. At the same time, the current political and economic system seems almost completely oblivious to it, and so these crucial solutions do not seem to be able to scale. This is a sign of a profound disease and insufficiency of current democratic and representative regimes, that are in the hands of privileged elites, who hide their power through a lack of openness. The big fight now is openness and transparency. And as we create our own P2P alternatives, we still have to tackle the mainstream system, and since a direct approach seems impossible (simply changing one party by another with very similar standard policies), what we need is to redesign, reprogram the political process itself. That\'s the crucial task right now, and Web 2.0 is not sufficient for this, it\'s merely a first step.

John Blossom of Shore.com

1. Is this participation really democratic?While not allsocial media tools are available to everyone in the world, by its nature people who have access to social media are participating in the most democratic form of political human expression. In the past the power of a political voice was determined by a person\'s connection to powerful people, by their access to the media or a bullhorn or whatever other device amplified one voice over that of an electorate\'s voice. In social media the opportunity for all voices to express themselves begins to become a reality. However, just because social media tools are being used for political expression doesn\'t mean that the content being generated by social media is always "the voice of the people." Oftentimes powerful individuals and organizations will hire surrogates to spread their opinions using social media tools, creating "astroturf" - content that\'s supposed to look like "grass roots" opinion but which is in fact sponsored by a controlling interest. What I am noticing in this year\'s U.S. election is that people are far more aware of the potential for astroturf content and challenging it more quickly and vocally. It\'s also important to note the growth of media outlets that use social media tools but which have editorial staffs that enable them to operate much as any other media publication would. Just because you\'re using the tools of social media doesn\'t necessarily mean that you\'re actually trying to be just one voice in the crowd. This is not to say that the powerful should not have a voice as well in social media. In a true democracy all people of all walks of life should have a voice in political discussions. But if democracy is a system which says that each person has one voice as well as one vote, then all of the people who have that right should have an equal opportunity to influence their peers through social media. Within that framework influential figures arise, leadership forms and actions are taken based on that influence, but the influence, endorsement and leadership is not presumed. Social media is a key venue in which such influence, endorsement and leadership is formed.


2. Or is this a democracy paradox, where everyone can interact but the decision making places are all outside the net?In my bookContent Nation I am highlighting the importance of the coffee houses and the taverns of the American colonies in which influential political pamphlets such as Thomas Paine\'sCommon Sense were discussed. The discussions in those gathering places and the passing of these pamphlets from one person to another was in effect the social media of that era. Without those influential discussions and the local thought leadership that emerged from them there would not have arisen the widespread convictions that led to the actions outside of the rooms in which these discussions took place. Democracy is a form of self-organizing government: one cannot form it until people have organized their thoughts as to how they would like to be represented. So while oftentimes the discussions in social media forums may appear to be as boistrous as any that one may encounter in a pub or a cafe, that boisterousness leads to the convictions to express oneself through democratic institutions. Social media can enable actual decision making - many services provide polling capabilities - but its primary value is to enable people to have the intellectual and emotional interchange necessary to make informed decisions in the democratic process or to inform our representatives of the true opinions of the electorate more efficiently. A simple analogy can be found in and about my home town. In the New England region of the U.S. many small towns still govern themselves via direct representation: the citizens of a town gather at appointed times to vote on town budgets and regulations and to discuss and to vote upon important issues. However, as some of these towns grew this form of government gave way to representative town meetings, in which citizens are called upon oftentimes to speak out on issues of public importance at town meetings but in which the elected representatives then are called upon to vote. Both are democratic functions, but in the representative town meeting the voice of the citizens is separate from the actual political action. It\'s feasible over time that social media will enable us to return to more of a direct representation in democratic institutions, but for now I think that it is mostly about enabling people to influence the actions of elected officials and influencing how they are chosen.



3. Is the horizontal leveling of internet communications really an instrument of democracyThe horizontal leveling of the internet can enable democratic views of the world and is without a doubt the most revolutionary invention for human communication since the spoken word. Once voice can decide to speak out and can gain a global audience virtually overnight, influencing political decision making both on a national and global level as well as at a local level, based solely on the influence and endorsement of their peers. The ability of any voice anywhere to influence the course of decision-making that impacts society is the foundation of democratic action. The corollary of that freedom, however, is that it takes democratic organization of all of the content generated by social media for people to become aware of such opinions. If millions of voices shout out but we hear from the same media-selected opinion-makers again and again then social media has done little good. This is where the traditional media outlets fail us oftentimes. It is good to have high-quality traditional media outlets, but social media outlets enable a far broader array of opinions and insights to surface by enabling a far broader array of influencers and leaders to arise through the combined endorsements of individuals. This allows the combing intellect and insight of countless people to factor in to democratic decision making.



4. How would it be possible to transform these emotional and communication-oriented extensions in a real space connected with the physical world of true partecipation to decision-making?
To bring it back to my discussion of New England town government, there is the long-term possibility that social media becomes a more direct instrument of governmental decision-making. But even today social media is being extended into the political process directly. If you look at Barack Obama\'s presidential campaign social media tools were an essential factor in organizing his campaign workers: enthusiasm for a political candidate was transformed into political action directly through social media. Obama\'s record online campaign donations were another example of how social media breaks through into the real space. People are using social media tools to organize people rapidly in local areas as well: weblogs were a crucial factor in our local elections in 2006 and social media tools have helped to change the course of several local political debates. Our town\'s First Selectman, a mayor by most people\'s understanding, is a blogger! Finally I think that we\'re seeing more and more use of venues such as Facebook to make people aware of political causes and to be organized to take real-world action. Hundreds of thousands of people who are passionate about a cause can be organized in a matter of a few days. That\'s highly scalable political activism that just wasn\'t there a few years ago. We need the tools of social media to help us form our decision making, but it\'s up to us to take action based on those experiences. I trust and expect that the power of social media to enable such transformation of discussions in to action will catch the world by surprise in the months and years ahead. I doubt that the discussions in coffee houses and taverns in colonial American were taken very seriously by those who were not a part of them. But then people decided to act upon those discussions. So it will be withsocial media. People have no idea yet as to just how powerful a tool that it will become. The courage of convictions is all that\'s required to make that clear to the world. This happens again and again already in ways large and small, but some day soon the world will be aware that they are a nation of publishers, united in their ability to communicate to the world and to influence one another as citizens of the same.

Sepp Hasslberger of Health Supreme / Hasslberger.com

1. Is this participation really democratic?If democracy means participation, then web 2.0 is really democratic. Actually it can be even considered more democratic than what we are used to calling our "democratic society", where participation is not invited. We are supposed to vote once every four-five years, and let the politicians get on with leading us wherever they wish. Not much of the original idea of democracy left there.


2. Or is this a democracy paradox, where everyone can interact but the decision making places are all outside the net?You could call it a paradox. Everyone can interact on the web, but for now, the decisions are made in other places. Just as I said, we elect politicians and are expected to let them do the leading. It would be much better if there were some connection between what the people want and what the politicians are doing. I could imagine that the web might be used to discuss and decide on actual things in politics, and the politicians take the message that has been "filtered out" and act in accordance with it. But this is only a phase of transition. Sooner or later, the web will gain an important role in politics, even to the extent where we no longer need politicians. If we can discuss and decide, all we need to implement decisions are administrators - local, regional, national, international - administrators to carry out the will of the people.


3. The horizontal leveling of internet communications is really an instrument of democracy?It should be and it could be, but right now, I think it isn\'t.


4. How would it be possible to transform these emotional and communication-oriented extensions in real space connected with the physical world of true participation to decision-making? There are several efforts that attempt to bring electronic voting and discussions into the political reality, so far with very limited success. To bring true participatory decision making, first of all, we\'ll have to learn to take our share of responsibility. When there are decisions to be made, and this will be practically constantly, we must be willing to take time out from other efforts to get into the issues that are of interest to us, and participate in the process of maturing a consensus. At the same time, we need to link these decisions into the actual administration of things. It appears a huge step to take from where we are now, but things are in motion.

Are eBooks being adopted? Is eBook usage increasing? Is the Amazon Kindle a total flop? Is the eBooks long promised revolution a rapidly disappearing fad or is this a new industry that is gradually finding its proper niche? What future awaits eBooks hardware and software producers and what should you expect in the near future from eBooks content providers?

Photo credit: Springer

In the report that follows, Springer has gathered data suggesting that despite its newness, the eBook does not suffer from obscurity. Accessed either through the library (at academic institutions) or via sources like Google Scholar or Google Book Search, the eBook, with its unique advantages over printed literature, has definitely found its place among our literature collections.

But this is not to say that eBooks will be taking the place of your hard-cover favourite novels anytime soon. In fact, this may actually be quite unlikely. If you have ever tried to read from a computer screen for an extended period of time, I am sure you will have no problem understanding why: reading straight from eBooks isn\'t as enjoyable as reading the same stuff from a traditionally printed book. And this is where printed literature has a definitive advantage.

However, the eBook has begun to make strong progress into the areas of research and work. When individuals use eBooks, they are usually engaged in "horizontal information seeking" and "power browsing" - in other words, they skim quickly through the reading material and bounce from source to source.

eBooks are particularly effective when doing research because they are "convenient, easily accessible" and they offer "enhanced functions" when compared with traditional printed literature. In addition to the fact that no storage space is required, the eBook (because it is electronic) it is easily searchable and for research this fact is key.

Here all the details:

eBooks – The End User Perspective

Executive Summary

eBooks form a growing part of the collections at research and academic libraries. Although still in the early stages of adoption, eBooks have demonstrated advantages in the areas of accessibility, functionality, and cost-effectiveness. End users are just beginning to incorporate eBooks into their information experience and research habits. Libraries are eager to learn more about the rate of eBook adoption among their end users and the ways in which users are interacting with eBooks. In 2007, Springer surveyed librarians at six institu­tions to understand their views on eBook adoption and benefits. In 2008, Springer followed up that study with a survey of end users at five institutions to gauge their usage of and attitudes toward eBooks.

The survey uncovered some encouraging results regarding eBook adoption. Most users were aware of eBooks and had accessed them at least once. Respondents also overwhelmingly said that eBooks are useful and that they would like to incorporate eBooks into their information experience more frequently. These positive findings are supported by additional Springer usage research and studies from independent organi­zations that have found a surprising level of uptake for eBooks given their relative newness.

In terms of user behavior, the 2008 Springer survey found that users mostly access eBooks for research and study purposes and that the types of eBooks most frequently used are reference works and textbooks. A separate Springer study of usage metrics within its own eBooks program found that content age appears to have less of an impact on the usage of eBooks than on the usage of online journals. eBook usage is also less concentrated than online journal usage, with a greater array of titles driving downloads. eBook users appear to find value in a wide variety of titles and content. Finally, the 2008 Springer user survey found that users most frequently locate eBooks through general search engines like Google as well as through online library catalogs.

Users regard convenience, accessibility, and enhanced functionality as the primary benefits of eBooks. Print books are perceived to have an advantage in ease and enjoyability of reading, and users do not expect them to disappear in the near future. However, users anticipate that in five years time, they will prefer the elec­tronic versions of some books and expect that their transition to eBooks will be fastest for research-related activities and for reference works.

Overall, the survey results indicate that eBooks are best suited for research purposes or in a search environ­ment where the user needs to locate specific information. Users are not reading eBooks cover-to-cover in the traditional sense but instead approach them as a resource for finding answers to research questions. eBooks have the potential to stimulate new forms of book content usage and will require libraries to think differently about how to accommodate the needs of users as their eBook collections grow. Viewing eBooks through the lens of traditional print book usage might cause libraries to miss important opportunities for enhancing the user research experience.

An End User Perspective on eBooks

After years of development efforts and high expectations, eBooks have begun to cement their place as a central part of the information experience. Research and academic libraries are gradually building their eBook collections into a valuable resource for their users. A 2007 Springer survey of librarians at six institu­tions found that many libraries recognize eBooks as an ideal opportunity to expand collections while enhancing users' research experiences. And in a recent Publishers Communication Group study, 43 percent of the librarians surveyed said that their budget for eBooks would likely increase in 2008. While most librar­ians acknowledge that eBook programs are in their early stages, they also clearly recognize the significant impact that eBooks will have on the future of research and information retrieval.

No picture of eBooks' current status and future potential can be considered complete without including the end user perspective. User experiences with the Internet have created an expectation of instantaneous access to information, both whenever and wherever needed. Given these high expectations for digital information resources, libraries, publishers, and other organizations have sought to better understand how end users perceive and interact with eBooks.

In order to gain insight into the end user perspective on eBooks, Springer conducted a 2008 survey of users at four of the institutions that took part in the 2007 study, plus one additional institution. The following institutions participated in the 2008 study:

• Centrum voor Wiskunde en Informatica (CWI), Centre for Mathematics and Computer Science, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, United States
• University of Muenster, Germany
• University of Turku, Finland
• JRD Tata Memorial Library, Bangalore, India (new participant in 2008)

The purpose of the study was to understand users' adoption of eBooks, their eBook usage behavior, and their perceptions of eBook advantages and disadvantages. This paper summarizes the findings of the user survey and describes the implications for libraries.

End User Awareness and Usage of eBooks

Despite the relative newness of eBooks as a resource, most of the users surveyed were aware of their exis­tence and had used them at least once, whether through their libraries or through another source. The study found that between 52 percent and 84 percent of respondents at each institution were aware of the avail­ability of eBooks through their libraries. Moreover, between 58 percent and 80 percent of respondents at each institution had used eBooks at least once, whether through their library or other sources. For example, at University of Turku, 84 percent of users said they were aware that they had access to a large number of eBooks through their library, and 73 percent said they had used eBooks at least once.

Springer's findings on the prevalence of eBook usage are consistent with a recent Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) study in the UK, which found that 60 percent of users surveyed had used eBooks. The JISC study also found that while 46 percent of users obtained the last eBook they used through their library, nearly the same number (43 percent) obtained their last eBook via the Internet. Clearly, even if users do not realize their library contains eBook offerings, they are encountering eBooks in their online research through sources like Google Book Search. Libraries have the opportunity to position themselves as a central, convenient source of extensive eBook content for users who would otherwise turn to the Internet for their eBook searches.

A 2007 study of usage metrics within Springer's own eBooks program confirms the promising trend in user adoption of eBooks. The study found that for institutions that were early adopters of eBooks, users accessed eBooks with 50 to 100 percent of the frequency with which they accessed online journals. And in the first year of Springer's eBooks program, eBook usage accounted for roughly a fourth of total usage on the Spring­erLink website with approximately 25 million chapter downloads. Given the relatively recent introduction of eBooks, these usage statistics demonstrate significant promise.

In the 2008 user survey, respondents described the primary obstacle to eBook usage as a lack of awareness of eBook resources available through their libraries. Fortunately, libraries have the power to remove this obstacle by improving the ease of finding eBooks and educating library users about the availability of eBooks as part of library collections.

Trends in eBook User Behavior

Frequency of eBook usage varied by institution, with most users indicating they access eBooks on a weekly or monthly basis. Users also said that they primarily use eBooks for research or study purposes, rather than for leisure or teaching purposes. For example, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 78 percent of users said they use eBooks for research while 56 percent reported using eBooks for study, but only 10 percent mentioned teaching or leisure. Given most users' existing experience with seeking information on the Internet, research is a natural entry point for eBook usage.

When users were asked what types of eBooks they had used so far, the most frequently given answers varied by institution:

• Reference works at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Reference works and textbooks at Muenster
• Conference proceedings at CWI Amsterdam
• Reference works and textbooks at Turku
• Textbooks at Bangalore

These results are somewhat consistent with the 2007 Springer study of usage metrics within its own eBooks program, which found that reference books, textbooks, and research monographs had the highest average download rate.

The 2007 Springer usage study also found that unlike journal content, the age of eBook content does not appear to have a significant impact on usage. eBooks published in 2005 were used as frequently as eBooks published in 2006 and 2007. Moreover, the Springer usage study found that eBook usage is less concentrated than electronic journal usage. The study points to a "long tail" of eBook usage, wherein many book titles that sell only a few copies in print are now findable and frequently used online.

In terms of locating eBook content, the 2008 Springer user survey found that users begin their search for eBooks at different places depending on the institution. At the University of Muenster and CWI Amsterdam, users said they find eBooks mostly through general search engines like Google. But at University of Turku and the University of Illinois, online library catalogs served as the starting point for most users' eBook searches. The graph below illustrates the detailed response of University of Muenster users. Fifty-two percent of users said they often or very often start their eBook search with a general search engine, while 49 percent often use the library's online catalog. Vendor-provided sites, the library web site, and regional library cata­logs trailed somewhat as starting points for searches.

These results are supported by the findings of SpringerLink usage investigations, wherein eBook usage was monitored before and after the implementation of Springer eBook MARC records in library catalogs. At Turku University, the average number of eBook chapter downloads per month more than doubled after eBook MARC records were loaded into the library catalog.

A recent study conducted by the Centre for Information Behaviour and the Evaluation of Research (CIBER) offers conclusions that complement the findings of the 2008 Springer user survey. CIBER studied patterns of user behavior in virtual libraries, finding that users often engage in non-traditional reading activities like "horizontal information seeking" and "power browsing". Instead of spending a long time reading a particular eBook or online journal article, users skim quickly and bounce from source to source. The CIBER study found that users spent an average of only four minutes on a particular eBook site, leading CIBER to conclude that in a virtual environment, users are not reading in the traditional sense. Ultimately, CIBER said that its research

"suggests that eBooks will be the next publishing success story, although demand here could be even more spectacular, simply as a result of the enormous size of the student population, hungry for highly digested content."

CIBER's conclusions mesh well with Springer's studies, which found that users primarily access eBooks for research, use a relatively wide variety of eBook titles, focus on reference works and textbooks, and often locate eBooks through general search engines. The pattern of behavior described in these results is consis­tent with CIBER's findings that users skim quickly through a variety of digital resources looking for specific pieces of information, rather than engage in extended reading sessions.

End User Evaluation of eBook Advantages and Disadvantages

Encouragingly, users overwhelmingly indicated that eBooks are useful to them and that they would like to use more eBooks. Almost all respondents found eBooks useful, with between 85 percent and 96 percent of respondents at each institution rating them as either very or somewhat useful. Moreover, between 79 percent and 92 percent of users at each institution said that they would like to use more eBooks.

Users cited the difficulty of reading books from a screen and a preference for traditional print books as the primary reasons for not using eBooks more often. Given users' comfort level and long history with print books, the challenge of making eBooks easier to read is a difficult one. The strides that companies like Amazon.com and Sony are making with their eBook readers might point the way toward resolving this issue in the long term.

The Springer user survey also sought to understand user perspectives on the advantages and disadvantages of eBooks. The primary advantages of eBooks for end users revolve around convenience and information access. Users said that they value the ability to access eBooks anytime and anywhere and appreciate that access is fast and easy. Full-text searching was also named as a top eBook advantage.

• "Mostly the advantage of using eBooks would be their convenience. Instead of going through the hassle of tracking down a specific work of inquiry and checking it out, eBooks provide an easily accessible way of accessing said work at my own convenience and leisure. Also, if at any time I need to make a copy, as long as I have access to a computer and printer, I doubt eBooks could make it any easier". (User at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
• "With eBooks, you can find much faster relevant content by searching for keywords. You can use them anytime and everywhere, in contrast to library-provided books, which are often not available when you need them".
  (User at University of Muenster)
• "I can carry and read [an eBook] everywhere! I can put it on my small laptop or PDA and finish my literature research while traveling on the train".
  (User at CWI Amsterdam)

Echoing their response to the earlier question of why they do not use eBooks more frequently, users described the primary disadvantage of eBooks as the difficulty of reading content from a screen. When viewed from the standpoint of traditional print reading behavior, these recurring mentions of eBook read­ability problems might indicate ongoing challenges for eBook adoption. However, users appear to find value in using eBooks for specific research or information retrieval purposes. In these cases, users do not need to consume lengthy sections of content from a computer screen and eBook readability becomes less of an issue.

• "eBooks are great for research. Cover to cover: print rules". (User at University of Turku)
• "A large number of eBooks can be carried in a laptop, where transferring the print books is a real pain. Also if the computer screen is suitable, it doesn't give much difference with the print book. Of course, print books have different glamour, it's not quite right to compare them".
  (User at JRD Tata Memorial Library, Bangalore)

Users were also asked to specifically compare the advantages of eBooks and print books. As compared to print books, users said that eBooks have advantages in the areas of storage space required, 24/7 accessibility, up-to-dateness, and ease of making copies. On the other hand, print books have the advantage in terms of ease and enjoyability of reading.

• "In general, I find eBooks more useful in instances where I ‘use' (look up specific data) rather than ‘read' (from cover to cover)".
  (User at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
• "The main advantages of eBooks are their availability and searchability. They are perfectly suitable for quick references of detailed, scientifically based information".
  (User at University of Muenster)

What implications do these advantages and disadvantages have for user behavior? Overall, the users surveyed said that they prefer print books for cover-to-cover reading, but see eBooks as useful for specific research needs or as complementary to print books. In other words, eBooks are best suited for research purposes or in a search environment where the user needs to locate specific information. This finding indicates that eBooks have the potential to stimulate new forms of book content usage. Looking at eBooks through the lens of traditional print book usage might offer a skewed viewpoint of eBooks' value to users and could cause libraries to miss important opportunities for enhancing the user research experience.

The Future of eBook Usage

While users acknowledge that adoption of eBooks will continue to increase, they do not envision print books disappearing within the near future. Users expect that the transition to eBooks will happen fastest for research-related activities, rather than study, teaching, or leisure purposes. They also expect that reference works will most quickly make the transition to eBooks, followed by research monographs and textbooks. These answers further support the conclusion that eBooks are best suited to specific research and informa­tion retrieval purposes. Users recognize the potential of eBooks to support their research activities and believe that digitized reference works will help them quickly locate the specific information they seek.

• "Access to more eBooks is always welcomed in the research world, even when print books are still preferred for heavy reading. Instant access to information is increasingly important and advantageous". (User at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
• "I don't need to wait for eBooks to be returned to the library. It's faster to find specific infor­mation by using [the] search option instead of flip-flopping pages".
  (User at University of Turku)

Most respondents predicted that in five years time they will prefer to read print versions of some books, and electronic versions of others. For example, at the University of Muenster, 53 percent of respondents said they would read both print and eBooks, 35 percent said they would read more print, and seven percent said they would read more eBooks. In the short term, eBooks will continue to be best suited to specific research and information retrieval needs.

The CIBER study takes an even longer viewpoint, looking ahead to the state of virtual libraries in 2017. CIBER describes the "inexorable rise of the eBook", predicting that print sales will fall sharply as electronic publishing matures and consumer demand grows. CIBER believes that by 2017, eBooks will be the default format for textbooks, scholarly books, and reference works.

Conclusion

The emergence of eBooks as a central part of the information experience requires libraries to think differ­ently about how to meet the needs of their users. While eBooks will not replace print books in the near future, users are rapidly adopting them as complementary to print books. Users value the convenience and ease of access that eBooks provide and are engaging in new forms of book content usage to take advantage of their libraries' growing eBook collections. Libraries can expand eBook usage to an even larger population of users by raising awareness of eBook availability and ensuring that eBook content is easy to find and use.

Institutions participating in the 2007 survey included the following: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, United States; University of Florida, United States; University Library of Turku, Finland; Centre for Mathematics and Computer Science Amsterdam, The Netherlands; University of Muenster, Germany; and Victoria University, Australia.

Photo credits:
Executive Summary - Didier Kobi
An End User Perspective on eBooks - Sony
End User Awareness and Usage of eBooks - Springer
Trends in eBook User Behavior - Springer
End User Evaluation of eBook Advantages and Disadvantages - Springer
The Future of eBook Usage - Springer
Conclusion - vacuum3d

Originally written by the Springer Team for Springer and first published as "eBooks – The End User Perspective" - July, 2008.

About the author

Springer is the second-largest publisher of journals in the science, technology, and medicine (STM) sector and the largest publisher of STM books. It publishes on behalf of more than 300 academic associations and professional societies. Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media, one of the world's leading suppliers of scientific and specialist literature. The group publishes over 1,700 journals and more than 5,500 new books a year, as well as the largest STM eBook Collection worldwide. Springer has operations in over 20 countries in Europe, the USA, and Asia, and some 5,000 employees.

References

• E-Books in 2008: Are Librarians and Publishers on the Same Page? (Publishers Communication Group, 2008)
• JISC National E-Books Observatory Project, Results of First User Survey
  (Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), 2008)
• Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future
  (Centre for Information Behaviour and the Evaluation of Research (CIBER), 2008)
• eBooks—Costs and Benefits to Academic and Research Libraries
  (Springer, 2007)

• On one hand I like to provide transparent access to MasterNewMedia internal readership demographics as a way to substantiate the reach and content distribution capacity that I and my team have been able to achieve.
• On the other I want to showcase and model how the public use of traffic data originated by tools and services normally reserved for internal review only, can actually provide greater credibility, authority and valuable information (especially to potential advertisers) to any site, independently of size.